


i believe i can fly

by corsage



Category: The Dragon Prince (Cartoon)
Genre: Gen, for the tdp fic exchange
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-20
Updated: 2018-12-20
Packaged: 2019-09-23 18:07:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,825
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17085164
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/corsage/pseuds/corsage
Summary: Callum forgets how to play chess, Rayla is unimpressed with everything, and Azymondias believes he can fly.(He can still barely walk.)





	i believe i can fly

**Author's Note:**

> for @eezran on tumblr, for the tdpsecretexchange! happy holidays, and i hope you like this :)

It's dark, and it's cold, and so Ezran, Callum, Rayla and Bait all collectively decide to stay the night in the hollow tree at the top of the Not-So-Cursed Caldera before marching towards Xadia in the morning. Azymondias does not actively take part in any decision making -- he's too busy eagerly exploring his new surroundings -- but he seems content, so Ezran chooses to take that as approval.  
  
Ellis and her dog Ava stay with them as well. "Are you sure you're fine with this?" Callum asks them worriedly for the third time. "Won't your parents be waiting for you to come back?"  
  
"Oh, no," Ellis replies breezily. "It's a long way back down the mountain, so they already knew I might stay the night up here. Besides, we've done this before! Right, Ava?"  
  
Ava barks her agreement, and Callum reluctantly lets the topic drop. Ezran notices Lujanne at the entrance to the tree, looking grimly at the horizon, and goes up to her. "Is everything alright?" he asks, tapping her arm to get her attention.  
  
Lujanne turns to face Ezran, but her eyes are still distant, and it takes her a second to focus on what he said. "No, everything is not alright, child," she replies, putting a hand on his head. "If the path off the mountain wasn't treacherous, I'd tell all of you to leave this place as fast as you possibly can."  
  
How is the path treacherous? "The monsters are only illusions, though," Ezran says, confused.  
  
"She means the terrain," Rayla responds, coming up behind him. "If we leave now, we won't be able to find our way down in the darkness."  
  
That makes sense, but the rest of Lujanne's statement doesn't. "But why would you want us to leave so quickly?" Ezran asks. "What's wrong with staying here?"  
  
"I have the same question," Rayla says, and when Ezran looks up at her, her eyes are hard. "What're you trying to hide from us?"  
  
Lujanne sighs, and it's a sigh of regret. "Nothing that I have the ability to do anything about," she says.  
  
Upon hearing that, Rayla snorts. "Well, that's certainly helpful," she says. "Not vague at all, either. Thank you so much for the insight!"  
  
The illusionist sighs again, and seems to try and give a better answer. "You have enemies searching for you, yes?" she asks, and Ezran nods. "Of course you do; the dragon prince must be sought after by many. These enemies, they're getting closer to finding you, and that is why I told you what I did earlier. You should set off when you see the first rays of dawn, and set a swift pace."  
  
Before Ezran or Rayla can say anything in response, Lujanne moves away, focusing on her hands: they find out what she's doing only a moment later, as light flashes from her hands and before Ezran knows it, she is fiddling with a rectangular object he doesn't recognize at first.  
  
"A parting gift for all of you," she says, raising her voice and aiming her words at all of them, including Callum, sitting in the very back and scibbling in his sketchbook. He looks up when Lujanne speaks, though, and squints to try to make out what she's holding. "I can only hope this proves useful to you in the long term, and that it serves you well."  
  
Ezran watches as Callum pushes himself off the ground and comes closer, curious. The two brothers figure out what they're looking at at about the same time, and the younger notices the older's eyes widen.  
  
"Is that..." Callum begins, taking the object from Lujanne's pale hands.  
  
"...a chess set?" Ezran says, finishing the sentence.  
  
"A what now?" Rayla asks.  
  
"A chess set," Ezran repeats. He thinks he's seen this very type before, one which folds up on hinges and has all the pieces hidden inside a hollow space in the middle. "Didn't Dad like chess a lot, at some point?"  
  
"Yeah, he did," Callum agrees, and directs his next words at Rayla. "What, do they not have chess in Xadia?"  
  
"If they did, would I be asking you?" Rayla says, clearly a little miffed at her lack of knowledge on the subject.  
  
Callum looks confused. "Funny," he says slowly. "I'm pretty sure I remember studying about how chess originated in the Xadian part of the world. Maybe it's just a part of elven heritage that you don't know about?"  
  
Rayla was about to say something, but now she pauses, eyeing him. "Are you insinuating," she starts, and her words have an undertone that make Callum take three very wide steps back, holding the chess set to his chest closely, as if it will protect him from danger, "that you think I'm uncultured?"  
  
Callum opens and closes his mouth a couple times, and when sound finally comes out, it is an octave higher than Ezran has ever heard it. "A-absolutely not," he squeaks. "I would never suggest such a thing! I just thought that maybe you--" When he sees the expression on Rayla's face, he quickly changes track. "I must have been wrong, and misread that book I got this very false information from!"  
  
Rayla hums a little and lets the subject drop; Callum appears to be incredibly relieved. The elf then gestures for the set, which Callum gives willingly, and examines the checkered box carefully. "So what does this thing do, anyway?" she asks, shaking it a bit and looking surprised to hear the chess pieces inside clack around. "Produce magic food? Small weapons, maybe?" Rayla's face brightens with an idea. "Ooh, does it magically produce small, edible weapons?"  
  
Ezran laughs at Rayla's funny thoughts. She really doesn't know anything about chess. "No, silly," he says. "It's a game! You put the pieces on the board in order, and try to capture as many of the other player's pieces as you can!"  
  
"The aim of the game is actually to take the opponent's king," Callum interjects, "but you were pretty close there anyway, Ez."  
  
Rayla's expression slowly morphs into distaste. "This is the thing the illusionist thought would be useful? A stupid game?"  
  
"Hey, it's a game based on strategy," Callum argues, "and could probably help increase our skill in that area. At least, that's what I think Lujanne was thinking when she gave it to us. Right, Lujanne?" He looks around the cave, suddenly noticing that she isn't there anymore. "Lujanne? Illusionist? Guardian of, uh, that thing you mentioned earlier?"  
  
"Moon Nexus," Ezran corrects. Even he hadn't noticed her disappearance, and wonders now where she is. "Don't know what a moon nexus is, but that's what she said earlier."  
  
"Oh, you didn't notice?" Ellis pipes up, and everyone turns to her in synchrony. She doesn't seem to mind the attention, though, and continues, "The healer -- well, that is, the illusionist -- went outside while you were discussing chess. Maybe she's still there?"  
  
"I'll go check," Ezran says, and though he does just that, he finds no trace of either Lujanne or her feathery bird companion. He looks at the moon once, its reflected light bright in the darkness, and knows that Lujanne is already gone.  
  
He goes back inside the tree and tells the others of his discovery -- or rather, his lack of one. Rayla groans loudly and tips her head upwards, searching for patience but finding none. "Trust a moon mage," she mutters to herself, "to act as if she's imparted some valuable insight when all she's really given is a game that has absolutely no use whatsoever."  
  
"Well," Callum says, scratching the back of his neck awkwardly. "Since none of us are actually tired or sleepy yet, does anyone want to play some chess?"  
  
There is a short silence within which nobody gives any conclusive answer, and then Rayla finally says, "You know what? It's not like I have anything better to do. Teach me how to play, Callum."  
  
They start setting up the board, Callum unlocking the clasp to reveal the pieces hidden inside, alongside one other thing none of them had expected to see.  
  
"Hey, is that a moonstone?" Ellis asks, intrigued. It was embedded on one side of the board, glittering gently in the combined light of the moon peeking inside the tree and a sleeping Bait's glowing form. "Smaller than the one Ava used to wear on her collar, but still a moonstone, right?"  
  
"Looks like it," Callum replies, turning the board over in his hands. "Lujanne probably put it there so the illusion wouldn't finish after she left."  
  
"How thoughtful of her," Rayla says, but her tone has lost most of its bite, and Callum begins his explanation of where all the pieces go, Ezran and Ellis scooting nearer to watch them figure things out. Zym bounds over too, stumbling over his baby legs only once, the moonstone having caught his interest and the little pieces on the board having kept it. The pieces are all almost in place, Callum wondering aloud whether the queen is supposed to be to the right or to the left of the king, and Rayla asking whether it even matters, when Zym moves forward and nudges one of the pawns, accidentally knocking over eight other pieces.  
  
Ezran giggles. "Zym wants to play, too," he says.  
  
Rayla and Callum both look at the tiny dragon fondly, and the latter reaches for him and pats him affectionately. "I wish you could, buddy," the prince says, "but you should embrace your youth and freedom! You don't need to worry about strategic thinking just yet!"  
  
Azymondias looks up at him quizzically.  
  
Callum sighs. "Go play and have fun," he translates.  
  
Zym perks up at Callum's words and scampers away, deciding to go outside instead of continue his bouncing around within the confines of the hollow. Ezran watches him go, glances at the chess board once, turns back to face the entrance to the tree, and finally lets his eyes land on a sleeping Bait.  
  
Or a half-sleeping Bait: one eye is cracked open, watching Ezran warily, as if sensing what Ezran is about to ask him to do, and not liking it one bit.  
  
" _Please_ go take care of Zym?" Ezran asks earnestly.  
  
Bait grunts unhappily, gets up and walks towards the group huddled around the chess board, and, squeezing between Ezran and Rayla, flicks a tongue out and clomps his mouth over her king.  
  
"Hey!" Rayla complains. Ezran looks at Bait sternly, upon which he grumbles at length before spitting the now slimy and wet with saliva chess piece. Rayla looks at it in disgust, picking it up delicately between a finger and a thumb; Bait, having had his revenge, sticks his nose in the air and goes outside to see to Zym.  
  
It takes all of five minutes for the disaster to begin. The first part happens when Rayla's horse chess piece -- the knight? -- gets snatched by one of Callum's pawns, and they end up in a heated argument, Rayla insisting that Callum had told her earlier that pawns couldn't knock over a piece diagonally backwards, only diagonally forwards, and Callum sticking to his statement that he said no such thing, Rayla must have misheard him, pawns could absolutely capture in every diagonal. To be honest Ezran has no clue what's going on, which is probably for the best, since his being bored by the game and not paying any attention to it is what leads him to be able to hear the muffled sound of alarm from outside.  
  
Ezran is up and running before anyone else can even register his actions. He slides outside, snow crunching beneath his boots, only to find Bait at the very edge of the very steeply sloped part of the top of the Caldera, his mouth holding onto--  
  
Is that Zym's tail?  
  
Bait isn't making any more sounds, the first one that brought Ezran out the only one he seems to have bothered with, now focusing solely on Zym; Bait isn't heavy or strong enough to pull the dragon back up, all of his efforts going into keeping Zym from falling entirely.  
  
Ezran takes all of this in in one glance, and then rushes to help them.  
  
Except he runs too fast, and slips on a patch of ice, and instead of being able to grab onto Bait he crashes head-first into the glow toad instead.  
  
Sending all three of them sliding over the edge.  
  
They tumble over themselves and the slanted ground for a good minute before finally thudding to a stop, limbs and wings tangled with each other. Ezran extracts himself from the pile gingerly; he bumped his elbow on a rock on the way down, and got a few scratches here and there, too.  
  
But what really matters is the two animals.  
  
"Are you both alright?" Ezran asks anxiously.  
  
It turns out that both of them were banged about quite a bit, but have no serious bruises, and so Ezran's anxiety fades, his emotions shaping themselves into something more pointed instead. "How did that even happen?" he says. "What made you get in that position in the first place?"  
  
Bait gives a very succint summary of the event: Azymondias tried to fly, and failed.  
  
Ezran gets a much more detailed answer from the shamefaced Zym: he was frolicking around in the snow, doing nothing in particular, when he felt a cold breeze caress him, and he suddenly remembered the sound of his mother, great wings flapping, rising up into the sky. He was filled with the urge to try flying himself, and when moving his own little wings didn't work, he thought maybe jumping off a height and _then_ flapping would do the trick. Bait saw him aiming for the edge and tried to get to him first, but wasn't fast enough, and that was where Ezran came in.  
  
"Oh, Zym," Ezran says resignedly. "You're still too young for that. You're supposed to learn how to walk around without tripping over yourself first, and then think of your wings!"  
  
Zym seems to be very embarrassed at having caused such a mess, so Ezran lets the subject drop and decides it's time to make their way back to everyone else -- just not the same way they came down. It's too steep a slope to walk up, anyway, so they all start looking for another path to the top.  
  
If Ezran didn't have Bait by his side, he might have been scared of all the darkness surrounding him. As it is, though, Bait glows just brightly enough for them to find the path they've been looking for easily, without blinding anyone's eyes.  
  
It is a slow trek back, but they're met halfway by a terrified Callum and Rayla, Ellis' worried expression not far behind them. She looks relieved to see them, and says, "I'm glad you're all okay," but the first pair aren't so easily appeased.  
  
"What even happened out there?" Callum asks frantically, while Rayla examines all three of them for injuries. "We saw you run out, then we heard a shout, and came out ourselves only to watch you disappear down the side of the mountain! Are you alright?"  
  
"We're all fine," Ezran says reassuringly. "Zym wanted to fly, but he couldn't, and --" Noticing the look on his older brother's face, he adds hastily, "But I already warned him, and he knows what he did wrong, so there's no need to scold him again, okay?"  
  
Callum seems to be barely stopping himself from scolding all of them for no reason whatsoever. He calms down when Rayla pronounces them all relatively unharmed, though, and they're most of the way back to the hollow tree when he speaks again.  
  
"Hey, Ezran," he says, and Ezran looks up at him inquisitively. "You said you could talk to animals, and I know you can, so then how didn't you know Zym was doing all of that? I mean, it's not like he was too far for you to hear him, right?"  
  
"Callum," Ezran begins, "do you think I can hear animals' thoughts as well as their actual words?"  
  
"Uhh..." Callum replies eloquently.  
  
"I can't! And Zym wasn't saying his thoughts out loud, only, well, thinking them, so of course I didn't know what he was up to!"  
  
"Oh," Callum says, and a bit later, more to himself than to anyone else, "So that's how it works."  
  
Ezran hears him, though, and is more pleased than he thought he would be; after spending all of his life hiding his ability from everyone, including his family, the fact that Callum believes him and is actually interested in learning its specifics delights him.  
  
When they finally reach the tree, everyone collectively agrees that all of the things that had happened were enough for one day, and they turn in, Ezran sinking into a peaceful sleep with his mind on dragons, and chess, and a loving group of people by his side.


End file.
